Is There a Right Way to Cope?

The first reading, Women Read the Romance, deals with

 multiple surveys and interviews taken from a group of romance novel readers.  It text explains the Smithton women’s reasons and their justification for why they read the novels.  It describes that the readers of the novels are intelligent and usually mothers and wives.  The reasons why these women are so obsessed with reading these novels are for their own pleasure and escape.  They enjoy escaping from reality and their present situations whether they are good or bad.  Some women declare that they are simply more interesting than the newspaper or other books.  Whether the women have different or similar reasons for their obsession, they all have the similar sadness of wanting to escape from the “pressures” and “tensions” of being a wife or mother.  Radway goes into detail about how the Smithton women can decide between what could be a good or bad romantic novel.  The women discuss what kind of ideal man they enjoy reading about or fantasizing about.  They all had the similar opinion that they did not enjoy when their hero had been with other women before he unites with his future heroine.  They like the idea of a "one man-one women” concept.  I think that it is unfair to judge women for what she reads, but this text allows for people to dig deeper and understand the true meaning behind these romantic novels.  It gives these novels a universal understanding for what they do for women and how they wish for them to be written. 

Cathartic Confessions or Emancipatory Texts serves as an observation about the typical daytime talk show and what Oprah Winfrey has dared to discuss on her talk show.  Moorti discusses the idea that talk shows only serve to women, and not the “public good.”  With this being said, the episodes that Oprah aired in 1981-1991 are brought up.  These episodes interviewed numerous rape victims and even a convicted rapist.  This contradicted what was said earlier about certain talk shows not being informative to the “public good.”  By doing this, Oprah has given voice to pain and these women’s pain.  Although Winfrey and her staff carefully chose these topics and questions, these particular episodes were intended to be educational and activate women to talk about and take steps against sexual violence.  It is still logical that most talk shows are aimed at a female audience and individual problems, but is it wrong for men to be informed of important issues like rape?  Different particulars of rape are discussed on different episodes.  There is an episode with a man who was convicted of rape who discusses gender-role socialization, how he looked for the women he wanted to be with, and how he would not consider “no” as an answer.  Another episode highlighted how a woman dresses should not be paired with whether or not she was “asking for it.”  Winfrey plays the role of a therapist to these women and listens to the other guests and audience members.  She and her viewers believe that she is helping these women by asking them questions and listening to her stories. 

 

Both of these readings deal with the pain and suffering that some women go through.  Whether it is simple struggles such as marital problems, or traumatic problems such as rape, women tend to deal with things in their own way and that is shown in both of these readings.  In Radways article, women deal with their issues by escaping for a few hours a day in order to read romantic literature.  In Moorti’s article, these women have tried to cope with their experiences on their own, but Oprah Winfrey has offered to give them their voice back and talk with her about.